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Monday, May 28, 2012

Aileen
Donovan is an oceanographer with magical control over the element of water.
While her normal focus is on research and fighting poachers, she’s about to go
up against the stuff of legends—and that’s saying something for a supernatural.

A
transport ship is missing and everyone’s eager to get their hands on the cargo.
No one knows what exactly it is, but when fragments resembling coral begin to
drive local residents insane, Aileen suspects a preternatural source. Whatever
is at the bottom of the ocean, a power-hungry alchemist wants it, and releases
a sea dragon to eat the competition—literally.

Aileen
sees this as an opportunity to win the professional recognition she desires,
but keeping secrets is complicated when she’s working with local Coast Guard
officer Colin Benson. Her sense of love and duty will be put to the test, and
when the tide washes out, it might have been better if that lost ship had
stayed lost.

Review:

The premise of Elemental Magic sounds intriguing, and I’m happy to say it doesn’t disappoint!

Aileen is a water elemental still honing her powers. Suddenly, she is put to the test when a ship laden with mysterious cargo goes missing, a sea dragon attacks, and she joins her friends and family in a race against a dangerous alchemist to find the missing cargo.

Plenty of magic keeps the story moving at a rapid pace. The addition of creatures like mermaids, nereids, and sea dragons keeps the reader wondering what other secrets Wallace’s mythology has in store.

The romance is sweet and light, allowing the mystery and action to take center stage in this book. I’m looking forward to the next book, Dry Spell, to see how Aileen and Colin’s romance continues!

Monday, May 21, 2012

When
I thought about writing this blog, I didn’t know where to start. What do I know
about the queen? Do we have anything in common? As it turns out, the answer is
yes.

I
read today that Queen Elizabeth II is a fan of fiction! Her favorite authors
are crime/mystery writers P.D. James, Agatha Christie, and Dick Francis. (Check out the article here.) All three authors are members of the Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire: Agatha Christie a Dame Commander, Dick Francis a Commander, and P.D.
James an Officer.

Who
knows when the queen has time to read though!

Which
other authors would you recommend to the queen?

There's lots of other bloggers in this hop. Check them out through the links below:

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Would
you walk into your local bookstore and steal the latest book by your favorite
author? Would you steal a $20 from a stranger to buy a couple of books? I’m
guessing your answer is a resounding “no.”

So
why do people think it’s okay to download ebooks from pirate websites?

Let
me make my position clear: It is NEVER okay to steal a book, whether it’s paper
or electronic. N e v e r.

The ladies over at Deadline Dames have a great article about how much piracy sucks!

Now,
some of you reading this might think, well, it was just one book or maybe
authors make enough money anyway or I can’t afford to buy all the books I want
to read. Do you think these are good excuses? Um, no.

All
of those illegal downloads add up and the vast majority of authors aren’t
making tons of money. Most have another job they work to make ends meet. I’m
not complaining – I write because it’s what I love. I never had illusions about
buying a new BMW with my sales! But it’s hard work. It takes months or even
years for the author to write a book. (Not to mention all of the people
required to offer a single book for sale: cover artist, editors, marketing
people, publishers, etc.) Imagine how we feel when we find out people have
downloaded our work illegally hundreds or thousands of times.

I
understand not being able to afford your reading habit. Some people can read a
book a day easily. But a voracious reading habit doesn’t make it okay to become
a thief.

There
are plenty of books out there to read that will cost you little to nothing. Kindle has
an ebook lending library containing over 145,000 titles. Your local library has
countless paper books, and many of them offer ebook lending too. Used
bookstores allow you to trade in your old books for credit to buy new ones.
Share books with friends.

And
yeah, buy the books you can afford from your favorite authors. It’s the only
way to ensure they keep creating those books you love! For example, I know a
very successful writer who stopped writing because she didn’t have enough
recent sales. There’s also a series I used to read that never got finished
because the publisher didn’t think there was enough interest.

So
please, don’t download from pirate websites. It’s illegal. And moreover, it’s
just plain offensive to the authors.

*Please
feel free to comment, but don’t mention names or web addresses of pirate websites.
The last thing I want to do is point more traffic in their direction.*

Friday, May 4, 2012

I
got a chance to meet Marne Ann Kirk at the conference in Salem last week. The
day I met her, I picked up her book, Love Chosen, the first novel in her Fae Dragon Chronicles series by Crescent Moon Press. More on my fellow conference attendees later this
week (I still have to download all my pics!), but let me just say how much fun
I had chatting and laughing with Marne! Her sense of humor comes through in her
novel too. I had to stop and giggle when I read her heroine’s thoughts on love
at the beginning of the book: “Love sucks dragon eggs.” Well, of course her
attitude changes a bit by the end of the story…

Dragons
and majical fae are only the start of the many things to love about Love Chosen. The romance between Issie
and Tyler was so hot it practically fried the circuits of my ebook reader!
*fans self*

Not
only is the kingdom in turmoil because of long-standing prejudices, but a new
danger comes forward that threatens the dragons and fae alike. The high stakes
in Marne’s story kept me turning pages late into the night… just one more
chapter… and then another…

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Apologies…
I was supposed to have this post up yesterday! I was traveling back from my
Salem conference and didn’t quite get to it in time. In any case, more about
the conference later this week!

What
else could I choose for Z but zombies! I’m a fan of all things zombie, from
movies to books (World War Z, anyone?) to zombie walks, which I totally plan on
joining some day.

My
latest zombie discovery is this app for my iPhone called Zombies, Run! It’s
actually an exercise app based around a zombie apocalypse. I know, I know. Me? Running?
Well, let’s not assume too much. But Zombies, Walk! just doesn’t sound as
dramatic.

Here’s
the deal. Plug in your headphones, turn on the app, and it plays a 30 minute
episode (there are about 30 so far). In episode 1, your helicopter crashes in
zombie-infested territory and you have to make your way to a local settlement
of survivors. A guy on their radio network talks you in. It’s very cool and a
bit scary! If you actually do want to run, you can turn on zombie chase mode.
It uses GPS tracking to follow your position and forces you to try to outrun a
zombie horde.

And
who knows? Maybe with a little exercise, I’ll be ready for the zombie
apocalypse! :)